Let’s be honest, we all regularly spend hours trawling the webynet to find cheap cars, especially weekend toys. I have challenged myself to find track cars useable under £1000. Now I am not saying they have to be; reliable, cosmetically nice, have low mileage or even a sniff of service history, but they do have to be; light, fun and cheapppp.
I found these all on one popular car sales site (AutoTrader), and found them within an hour. However if you were to use eBay over a weekend you could probably get even better deals.
If I was any good at blogging I would probably link the web address to the car, so you can have a look at the ad yourself, but this is going to take me forever to do and they will definitely all be sold before this goes up.
There are a few rules that I have set myself:
· Under £1000 (obviously).
· Has to get you to the track.
· Under 150,000 miles.
· MOT’d
· Not stolen (actually I can’t prove this one).
· Reasonable for track use (not a Land Rover).
· AutoTrader only.
· An hour to find as many good options as possible.
· Take the piss out of the owners posting if possible (I added this after I realised I was doing it)
Mazda MX5
The MX5 I found is a British racing green MK2, I couldn’t find any MK1’s with low mileage in the price bracket. It is the 1.8l sport version with 140bhp, which apparently means something. It also has 119k on the clock, which is actually reasonable for a car that is 18 years old. The MOT runs out in May 2020, meaning this one is probably a pretty safe buy. This particular car has some extra spice to offer, the first being the Bilstein suspension all around! It has an LSD and a lot of new parts; “replaced timing belt, water pump, rocker cover gasket, valve oil steam seals around 3-4k miles ago” and the “sills have been done previously as well as front chassis rails”. The best thing of all is the fact that it actually comes with service history, alright it is part service history so for 6 years it probably hasn’t had an oil change, but that’s okay (I think). Now, obviously this is the UK and we are known for our spectacular weather, this means any car you find over 10 years old will have rust but this has “slight bubling”, I can only assume they do mean rust and not the fact that the new Michael Buble Christmas album is in the CD player. A good buy I would say for £850 especially as you could track it as is.
Toyota MR2
The second on the list is a Toyota MR2. Apparently “it's one of the last fun cars that can still be driven without burning a hole in your pockets!”, this guy (or girl) is backing me up on this pick, but I suppose they are trying to sell the car. This one is already my favourite advert. “It's been treated really well over the year with plenty of paper work to show, all being installed by professional hands”, so all the paper work has been installed in the car with professional hands, this is good news. Okay I will be serious now, this car has had a few things replaced; the oil sump - High quality oil used throughout ownership, filters changed, back pads & discs changed recently with little wear, window screen replaced due to previous owner messing with windscreen trim, bank 1 Sensor 2 replaced and battery replaced. This car has only done 83K miles. The MR2 is light, fun and a bit more of an edgy pick compared to the MX5.
Ford Fiesta ST
I don’t really have a lot to say about this car and neither does the owner apparently: “8 months mot, excellent driver, good condition throughout, many extras. , Blue, £995”. Yep, that’s the full ad for this car. I shall now do a brief synopsis of the car - It is an ST, it has a 2L engine, its blue, the ford logo has worn off the front. I am also pretty sure they have Recaro seats in them. ST’s are cheap, but there is nothing about them that excites me at all.
Toyota Celica
This bad boy looks like a bit of a peach; leather seats (which will need to swapped for some buckets for that track life), AC, a few scuffs, but it has 10 years’ service history. I know the car is 19 years old , but 10 years is a good number. To be honest I expect about 4 years’ service history at this price point. It has weirdly only had two owners, which again for this price point should be 5+ by now. This would be a top choice if it didn’t look so bug like.
Ford Fiesta Zetec S
Okay we will start off with the fact that this should only be an option is you can’t find an ST for the price. The ad literally says “bought as seen”, this basically means there is something really badly wrong with the car lol. At least the MOT is due in 6 months and it has part service history I suppose. It doesn’t actually say anything about how long a part service history is, it could be one two years, but I suppose it’s better than none. As mentioned, if a Ford is your poison try and get the ST before one of these.
Ford Puma
I should preface this by explaining that there is absolutely zero chance of getting the Ford Racing Puma as it will probably be a million pounds by the time I finish this. The standard car is luckily still cheap. Apparently if you’re selling a ford for under a grand you are not allowed to write more than two sentences. “Long mot, last serviced at 92,760 miles Blue, 4 owners, £995” Come on lads put a little more effort in (biggest hypocrite of the year). I quite like the Ford Puma as an alternative pick to the standard cheap track weapons, they are known to have a rather large issue with rusting though.
Audi TT
Next up is a bit of German machinery. The Audi TT – 225BHP, full leather, 4 wheel drive and a bose sound system! All of that for £890, bargain of the century if you ask me. “accompanied with service history” again I have no idea how much. This Audi has been clocking up the miles as well, it’s currently at an impressive 148,000 miles.
Renault Clio 172
This one might be my personal fave, but I am biased. I do like a cheeky Renault hot hatch. I do also think this is a very good deal, in fact I looked back a day after and its been sold. It is the esteemed Clio 172, it has 120K on the clock. Apparently it has a lot of paperwork, a full V5 and no lights on the dash. It also has 9 months MOT and a full service carried out 200 miles ago, this also includes the following: dephaser pulley, cambelt, tensioners, water-pump, and aux-belt all done. This car is ideal for a track car, especially due to all of the upgrades it has recently had : new front Ferodo DS3000 pads, new front Brembo high carbon drilled discs, new rear pads and discs, new front and rear Goodridge braided hoses, new genuine cup shocks all round, new performance air filter, gearbox oil change and a new ABS sensor. Now that is a bluddy upgrade list. The only thing that’s wrong with it is the bodywork is naff, but you will get over it. Honestly out of all the cars, this is the best. If you can find a 172 for under 1K that is anywhere near as similar to this buy it on the spot. I am seriously kicking myself for not pulling the trigger on this one.
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